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The Criterion Theatre had a lovely 3 manual, 16 rank Wurlitzer theatre pipe organ. In 1972 the organ was sold to organ man Paul Haggard who kept it running until 1974, when he installed it in a nice French restaurant named ‘The Showplace’ on the sixth floor of the Meridian Tower on South Meridian Street, Oklahoma City. It was a nice idea, but the sound of the instrument at its softest was too loud for conversation and the restaurant closed, and the organ was sold and enlarged by a pizza parlor in Galveston, Texas. Sadly, it was ruined in the flood of 2009.

SK, saw your question above of 2/14/2012,,,A local Company named Basil Displays, was located in the basement of the Civic Center Auditorium that made displays for theaters..i.e. false fronts for Cinerama at Warner and Cooper also Cimarron for Midwest..My guess is that probably was the case for the giant Marilyn Monroe promoting Niagra…Basis was in operation in 50’s & 60’s, I may not have correct spelling of Basil but, it is close to being right..Anyway, that’s who I think produced the display…Motion picture’s would send out the prints and a local would build out the displays or false fronts for the outside of theaters..An era gone by.

I’m hoping someone can offer me some information about the Marilyn display in the photo above. My father was a commercial artist in OKC around this time and I am 99.9% sure he used to tell me stories about having had something to do with the production and/or installation of this artwork. He worked for a man named Basil Lowery (or Lowry) at the time, I believe. Any information would be greatly appreciated. My email is Thanks!

Eggman, my note above of May 11, 2013 re: Basil Displays..They did a lot of displays for Movie Theater’s and probably other’s like Retail Store Displays. I’m pretty sure Basil’s team did the Marily Monroe for the Criterion…He also did false front displays for “Cimarron” & “Longest Day” that played at the Midwest Theater..I believe he may have been the only one in OKC that produced those types of theater displays..They also did work for many other theaters in the okc area showing major runs….Hope this helps!